Purple tangs are not purple.

[Jase4224]

I'm color blind so you could basically say its blue or purple and I wouldn't know lol

Did you know yellow tangs are actually light orange?

 

[Jase4224]

Look blue to me under daylight, maybe some of the reef lighting makes them seem purple...

I’ll admit they are a little purple around the face.. but the bodies are the bluest of blue! Stunning

 

[fish farmer]

My wife says it's perrywinkle...

This thread should be locked and buried....whats next ultra raspberry tangs, purple rain tangs, very blueberry tangs.

 

[Jase4224]

Never would’ve thought there was a topic more heated than QT haha.

I don’t say blue or purple I say both;
You can get blue that can be rather dark and merge into purple.
Here’s 1 shade of Blue and 3 shades of purple.

When we think purple we generally think the bottom two but the purple tang is more of a middle shade between blue and purple.
There is also one easy way to solve it;
Pick the blue/purple colour and then see what Google says.

‘Purple’ tangs only match the blue on the top!

 

[Gtinnel]

My wife says it's perrywinkle...

This thread should be locked and buried....whats next ultra raspberry tangs, purple rain tangs, very blueberry tangs.

The fish are way too dark to be periwinkle. IMO they’re indigo more than anything else.

 

[OrchidMiss]

Red monti caps are orange

My purple monticap has yellow polyps..

 

[secret_reefer337]

I call it “Blueish Purple”. It is more blue with a hint of purple hue. Maybe when mother nature mixed her color, she accidentally put more blue than reds that’s why it become like that. I don’t have an official color swatch to get what’s the official name it could be, but I call it “ Blueish Purple” or “Purpleish Blue”.

 

[AKL1950]

Here. Maybe this will help. Pretty simple stuff.

compliments of The Quantum World by Kenneth W. Ford.
The tang is actually colorless. What we see is just the photon that got ejected when a higher energy photon was absorbed.


Lol! sorry…. Couldn’t help myself.

 

[zoomonster]

Funny topic... I have my fatty purple tang Gizmo (had 8+ years) and when I tell people he's a purple tang the response is always no that's blue. LED reef lighting just screws with anything close to blue/purple. Next to say my bicolor or multicolor angels blue he does look more purple. Of course, my sapphire damsels are very dark blue under LED. It's gotten a little better since I started running the LPS template on my G5's vs. total blue/uv 20kish. Good balance of fish and coral colors.

 

[sczlars]

Lol, purple just made it a better name than “deep blue tang”

 

[homer1475]

This thread should be locked and buried....whats next ultra raspberry tangs, purple rain tangs, very blueberry tangs.

Jesus I hope no vendors are watching this thread. The price just went up $500!

 

[Jase4224]

The fish are way too dark to be periwinkle. IMO they’re indigo more than anything else.

Indigo it is!! This should make both the blue and purple people happy, as Indigo is between royal blue and violet.

I declare the official new name of Zebrasoma Xathurum:
Common Name - 440nm Tang
Scientific name - Zebrasoma Indiguthurum

Please spread the word. Cheers.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Indigo it is!! This should make both the blue and purple people happy, as Indigo is between royal blue and violet.

I declare the official new name of Zebrasoma Xathurum:
Common Name - 440nm Tang
Scientific name - Zebrasoma Indiguthurum

Please spread the word. Cheers.

Now the price will go up even more!

 

[Harold999]

Here in the Netherlands we always knew they aren't purple because we call them yellowtail sailfindoctor.

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Next you're going to say Achilles Tangs are brown...

 

[Budman93]

OP actually isnt wrong but I wouldnt say they are 'blue' either More like an indigo or blueish/purple mix.

 

[OrionN]

PURPLE is my story, and I am sticking to it!!!!!
OK, OK.
Indigo is OK too.

 

[AKL1950]

Lol! This is pretty funny. I’ve heard our brains are geared to see what we expect to see. Except for Chromis. They are the masters of color change. I’m ready to take a swing at what color my Blue-Green Chromis really are. Pretty much changes all day long and then they turn almost black at night. Or is that dark green. Almost like a Cuttlefish. Wish I could force a nice dark suntan with the snap of the fingers.

 

[EgotisticObeseChihuahua]

Oh my, what are you feeding that heffer?

That's no heffer... That is a full on cow!

 

[i cant think]

Lol! This is pretty funny. I’ve heard our brains are geared to see what we expect to see. Except for Chromis. They are the masters of color change. I’m ready to take a swing at what color my Blue-Green Chromis really are. Pretty much changes all day long and then they turn almost black at night. Or is that dark green. Almost like a Cuttlefish. Wish I could force a nice dark suntan with the snap of the fingers.

It gets even better, the one fish I doubt most people can answer the question to what colour it is is;
Hoplolatilus chlupatyi, The Flashing Tilefish. It flashes every colour but what colour is it actually?